Honda Motor Co. is in the “final stages” of negotiations to sell FuelMaker Corp., a manufacturer of compressed natural gas fuel pumps for vehicles, Honda said in a statement Wednesday.

Honda, which owns a minority stake in financially troubled FuelMaker, hopes to keep the small Toronto company viable to help support Honda’s natural gas Civic GX.

Honda, whose North American headquarters is in Torrance, did not say what company was in talks to purchase FuelMaker.

“The aggressive effort to find a purchaser that would support the sales and servicing of natural gas refueling products in the future has led to negotiations with an entity that embraces this vision,” Honda said.

Honda had tried to sell FuelMaker for $17 million to Clean Energy Fuels, a Seal Beach- based natural gas distributor owned by entrepreneur and activist T. Boone Pickens.

That deal fell through in October.

Honda said it is pushing forward with a possible sale even though FuelMaker was recently put into receivership because of its precarious financial position. The receiver has authority to declare FuelMaker in bankruptcy.

A report Tuesday by the International Association of Natural Gas Vehicles said FuelMaker would be liquidated after being declared bankrupt.

Despite its attempts to sell FuelMaker, Honda said it plans to continue selling its Civic GX, the only dedicated natural gas-powered passenger vehicle available from a major automaker in North America.